Rain Driving Mistakes During the Road Test

In many countries, when winter comes, rain soon follows. Some driving students have their road test on that day. They should have practiced for hours and know how to deal with rain. However, some students taking their driving test don't know how to handle rain driving and fail their test for it. Examiners have noticed that some rain driving mistakes repeat more often than others.

One common mistake is not using the windshield wipers. Every driver should be familiar with car controls and when to use them. Some driving students, especially during their driving test, forget about the wipers and don't turn them on when it rains. If the situation reaches a point in which there is no visibility through the window, the examiner may fail the student.

Another rain related error examinees make is not turning on their headlights. During rain it's very important to keep the car visible to other drivers. However, some students neglect that and just leave their headlights turned off. This causes a severe danger to the driver and cars around him, and usually leads to a test failure.

Speed is also an issue when driving in the rain. Rain makes the road wet, which causes it to lose traction with the tires. This reduces steering ability and makes braking distance much longer than normal. By going even at the speed limit the driver puts himself in a risk of losing control of the car. This may lead to what the examiners call a "dangerous maneuver", which is a critical error.

Turning during rain can be very dangerous. Many accidents have happened because of someone losing control during a turn. Some driving students come unprepared to their road test, which causes them to make wrong estimations about the proper turning speed on rain. In the best case, it can be marked as a minor error only. In the worst case, it can be deadly.

Rain driving is a subject of many hours of practice. Every driving student should get some driving practice during rain to understand how rain driving is different from ordinary driving. This can save lives of many people. Driving students who practice during the summer should drive very carefully on their first rain driving after they get their license.

You can find a guide that shows you how to drive during rain and on wet roads on the Pass your Road Test section of Great-Info-Products.com.

About the author:

Nadav Snir is an experienced driver, driving since the age of 15.5. He passed his first driving test in California at the age of 16. You can see more information about the driving test at his site: http://Great-Info-Products.com/DriveTest/index.html.

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Tips For Teens to Drive Safely

Believe it or not a recent survey indicates that car accidents are the number one killer of teens. Research has shown the behavior and attitudes of teens can promote unsafe practices. Seventy five percent of teens appear to be tired behind the wheel. When driving with a passenger ninety percent of teens are distracted. Twenty percent of Juniors who are driving have been in an accident in the past year. Add this behavior with an uneducated teen driver and it is a disaster waiting to happen.

Here are some tips for safe driving:

Do not talk on a cell phone while driving. This increases your risk of an accident by four times the amount of other drivers. It is equal to driving while intoxicated. Other distractions can also increase the chances of a collision. Listening to an Ipod or other electronic devices, putting on make-up, eating while driving, or adjusting a cd player or stereo in the car can all increase your chances of a car crash.

Educate your teen for night driving. The mortality rate in night time accidents is three time greater than day time accidents. Make sure your windows and mirrors are all clean. Your depth perception, color recognition, and peripheral vision are already lower from dusk on. At dusk make sure your car lights are turned on so oncoming traffic can see you better. Put more space between you and the cars ahead of you at night.

Reduce your speed. Speeding is the cause of one third of all fatal crashes, and most of this does not include the interstate. Only fourteen percent of fatalities caused by excess speed happen on the interstate. Speeding lessens the amount of time you have to avoid an accident, it increases the probability of a crash, and makes the accident more severe when it does happen. The harm to others or yourself as a result of speeding is not worth the time you save.

Educate your teen on driving safely. After school hours are nearly as fatal as weekend nights for teen drivers. Make sure all passengers are wearing their seatbelts. Make sure your teen follows local laws about teen passengers, including them catching a ride with another teen driver. The risk of an accident increases fifty percent for every teen passenger in the car. Be an example to your teen on safe driving, remember they are watching everything you do. Not only that, remember no accidents over a period of time means cheaper car insurance rates for those teenagers.

Stacey is a co-author and researcher on New Car Insurance for Teenagers where they seek to provide and maintain a weblog full of car insurance for teenagers info for teens and parents to browse while searching for car insurance.

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Child Passenger Safety

My mother told a story at a family gathering years ago about my little brother. Apparently, my mom was driving back to our house one day from the store and had put my brother in his car seat in the rear passenger seat behind her. She was almost home when, all of a sudden, a police officer pulled her over. When she noticed the lights reflecting behind her, she glanced over her shoulder and saw my brother standing up on the back seat looking out the back window of the car, waving to the police officer! Somehow, he had figured out how to get out of his child seat. Almost twenty years later, my brother and the rest of us can look back at this story and laugh, but at the time it was no laughing matter.

The Hard Facts

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most vehicle injuries are the leading cause of death among children in the United States. In 2005, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that 1,451 children ages 14 and younger died as passengers in motor vehicle crashes in the United States alone. In that same year, it was reported that among the same age group, approximately 203,000 were injured in vehicle crashes. Want to hear the shocking breakdown? That's an average of four deaths and 556 injuries EACH DAY.

Could you imagine what might have happened that day if my mother had to suddenly stop short while my brother was unrestrained-or worse, if she was involved in an accident? I'm sure she shudders when she thinks about it today. The good news for parents out there is that when properly used, child safety seats reduce the risk of death in passenger cars by 71% for infants and by 54% for toddlers ages one to four (NHTSA 2006).

Rules for Safety

As a general rule, all children under the age of 12 should ride in the back seat of a vehicle. The reasoning behind this is that riding in the back seat eliminates injury risk of deployed front passenger-side airbags and places children in the safest part of the vehicle in the event of a crash (CDC 2005).

NHTSA highly recommends the use of booster seats for children from the age of four until they are at least eight years old or 4'9" tall (2006).

Make sure that you have purchased the right car seat. If you are unsure, ask your healthcare provider or contact the manufacturer of the safety seat. If you are unsure of whether or not you installed it correctly, take your vehicle to your local inspection station where a technician can check it for free.

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Japan Tries to Get Old People to Stop Driving

Very interesting. Although older drivers tend to be safer overall, there comes a point when you need to give it up.

clipped from news.yahoo.com TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo businesses are to start offering benefits to elderly people who give up their drivers' licences, backing a police effort to cut back on the ballooning number of traffic accidents caused by drivers over 65. Among more than 30 special offers, one small bank will give higher interest rates, while Mitsukoshi department store chain plans to provide free delivery from its Tokyo stores and a hotel will offer a 10 percent discount on meals in a program starting next month, Tokyo police said on their Web site. Japan has the largest proportion of over-65s in the world and faces a growing problem with elderly drivers, who caused 100,000 traffic accidents last year, about twice the figure 10 years earlier, broadcaster NHK said.

Winter Driving

When winter comes, a large number of drivers panic and some of even get so scared, that they do not start their cars until spring. Indeed, driving in wintertime can be dangerous and scary, especially is you are a new driver.

Winter driving has to be approached differently than driving in summer time, but if you follow some basic steps and rules, winter driving can be achieved with relative ease. If you live in a part of the country where winter lasts for several months, these instructions will come in handy. Remember, winter driving should be treated differently from summer driving, but things are not that scary as you might think.

First, before the cold season arrives you should do a complete car check up to be sure it is ready to face winter. For example, check that you have winter tires (this is one of the most important steps you should take when winter comes, as your safety and car's performance are directly related to the tire's condition). So buying special winter tires is essential if you want to your car to be able to handle in the snow and on icy surfaces.

It is very important to make sure the tire treads are wide and deep to allow for all snow types. Certain types of snow are more prone to 'packing' and proving some types of tires essentially useless (summer tires are virtually non-effective in snow or in cold weather). While the tires are among the most important elements when it comes to making winter driving easy, other parts of the car should be inspected also. You should check that the car's oil and servo fluids to be sure that they have no problem in facing the cold temperatures of winter.

Having a winter emergency kit can prove essential in facing winter with no issues. If you are stuck because of a car failure somewhere near a busy road, someone may pull over to provide assistance. But if you are out in the middle of nowhere and have no cell phone coverage, such an emergency kit could save your life.

When it comes to creating the kit, there are several things you should not forget. Essentials for the kit include some extra hats and extra gloves for your passengers. A first aid kit is also essential in case of injuries.

When driving in winter, a bag of sand, kitty litter and a bag or two of salt to spread on the ground if any of the tires aren't getting any traction are also things you should buy before going out of the city. Some other important things to include in your emergency kit are a flashlight, some matches (in case you have to start a fire), some flares if you can find to signal others that you are in danger. Also before you start on your trip make sure your cell phone is fully charged, so you can have enough battery power to call rescue teams. Also make sure your gas tanks are full, as you might need to keep your engine running to keep the inside of the car warm in you get stuck.

These things may sound scary, but it is better to be prepared for the worst when it comes to winter driving so you can turn it into a safe trip. You may not need all of the above things for yourself, but you can also use them to help others that have get stuck in deep snow.

Dennis runs Car Dealer Check which has independent Car Dealer Reviews written by the car dealerships customers and information on Car Dealer Scams

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Pass Your Driving Test - Avoid Intersection Trouble

Intersections are two or more roads joined together. They usually have a very convenient method of traffic control - traffic lights, stop signs, yield signs, or a combination of them. During the driving test, a student has to face many types of intersections and go through them properly, otherwise failure is a fact.

One very common problem with intersections is limit lines. Students just forget to stop before them, and instead they go over them and then stop. This is, of course, a very dangerous act, as a car can come from either side and hit the line-passer.

Another issue with intersections is pedestrians. They usually fail drivers who do not give them the right-of-way. For example, when turning at a traffic lights you must yield to pedestrians. Many students just make the turn without checking first for pedestrians. If they are lucky, they just go in front of a pedestrian and don't hit him. If they are not as lucky, they might have to make an emergency stop and block the intersection. Intersection blocking is highly dangerous and illegal.

Over caution, also known as lack of confidence, is another factor in successful intersection usage. When a driver approaches an intersection, he needs to know whether to stop or not. Then he has to decide when to start driving. Many students come to the driving test without enough knowledge about starting from an intersection stop, and they are too afraid to enter the intersection. This happens especially on stop signs.

Traffic lights are also a major problem. They are very simple - you stop on red and go on green, yet they cause very much trouble. Some students taking their test stop on green lights, some don't stop on red. This is very common on right turns. Some examinees stop unnecessarily on a green light while others fail to make a complete stop on red before turning. This is a serious situation that needs work.

There is something to do about intersections. That is practice. You need a lot of practice, but good practice. Just driving through intersections will not make you more knowledgeable, but driving and knowing what to look for will make you more road-smart.

There are some guides that will help you pass your driving test on the first time. You can find them at the Pass Your Road Test Guides section of Great-Info-Products.com

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Drive Like You Care

There's a highway sign along Route 9 that reads-in red letters: Drive Like You Care. It sounds sort of snotty if you say it with the right inflection. My old partner was fond of the expression and used it, with traffic offenders, as an admonition on appropriate occasions.

I have a slightly different take on it. I've observed that many drivers, perhaps all drivers at one time or another, fail to treat driving as an activity unto itself, and in doing so put themselves, their passengers, and the public at risk. Rather, many folks treat driving as if it's something that simply happens while traveling from point A to point B. Kinda like what happens during the quantum part of a quantum leap.

How many times have you hopped in your car, your mind cluttered from what you've just done or spinning with everything you have to do next? It's a wonder people don't get into even more collisions than they already do.

However, there is a cure for this phenomenon and, although it's kinda Zen-like and a bit woo-woo, (as my wife puts it) it can be very effective. Just before you drive is a good time to perform a little ritual; put a, shift-of-activity, punctuation mark in your routine. It doesn't take long, because it's simply a matter of recognition. You just need to consciously acknowledge when you transition from one activity to another; from whatever you had been doing, to what you're about to do; in this case, drive your car.

Don't worry; I'm not asking you to sacrifice a goat on your dashboard. This ritual is much easier-and less messy. Just a moment before opening the car door to get in or a second before turning the key in the ignition, take a deep breath. Repeat an appropriate word or phrase to yourself-whatever works, such as, "Okay, time to drive," or "I'm about to drive now," or simply, "Drive." If that sounds just too woo-woo for ya, you can always paraphrase Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) from Midnight Cowboy, "I'm driving here, I'm driving here!"

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